A. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method and system for management of day-to-day television consumption, more particularly the disclosure relates to seamless evaluation and comparison of operators and channel packages and management of the programs/channel packs offered by the operators.
B. Background Art
The competition in the TV programming industry has resulted in a general improvement in the service in the entire industry. However, the TV industry is a two-sided market where both advertisers and viewers buy access to the programs offered by competing TV channels. Under the current market structure advertising prices are typically set by TV channels while viewer prices are set by distributors (e.g. cable operators). The latter implies that the distributors partly internalize the competition between the TV channels, since they take into account the fact that a lower viewer price at one channel will harm rival channels. We nonetheless find that a shift to a market structure where both advertising prices and viewer prices are set competitively by the TV channels might increase joint industry profits. The reason is that this market structure, in contrast to the one we observe today, directly addresses the two-sidedness of the market. This leads to the non-uniform charges patterns for the same channels across the varied service providers. One service provider may become the all time leader in sports programming and the other may dominate in movie programming with more movie channels than any other programming service provider has carried in the history of TV programming. One cannot easily understand and imagine what the service providers of the TV programming industry have in store for the viewing public as the future unfolds.
With increased competition in this space, number of features, HD channels, interactivity and better services are now a given.
However, the packages are not clearly defined and have more chance of confusion as it does not clearly disclose the channels included, i.e. the channels of each genre—news, sports, infotainment, music, lifestyle, movies and general entertainment and their respective costs. This opaque bundle channel structure of each service provider makes it difficult for the viewer to choose appropriate service provider/channel operator or the channels packs offered by them. The complexity per operator in terms of the number of packs, add on packs, a-la-carte channels, value added services as well as PPV and VOD content makes it a daunting task for the user/consumer. The compounding effect of all these factors will typically turn into a multitude of permutations and combinations resulting in consumer confusion and chaos.
There is no simple way for a consumer to determine which is better for him/her—many of the options offer similar services and performance. However, the consumer may choose between operators on the basis of entry price point, various channel packages, monthly costs, multi-room discounts and HD services.
The operators may try to entice consumers by advertising a large number of available channels. However it is important for the consumer to know that which channels are free (or included in the basic package) and how often does the operator add new channels, how many regional channels are included in the advertised number, how many HD and interactive channels are available in the mix. This information is not clearly made available to consumer by the operator. Hence it becomes difficult for the consumer to choose the channel pack or operator as the total number of channels on offer matters little if the channels the consumer really wants to watch are not available. It is important for the consumer to know which package offers the channels that are relevant for the consumer, how much extra will the consumer have to pay for specialized packages, how easily and how often can consumer switch between plans, if a new channel is added, will it automatically get added to consumers existing package etc.
Hence, there is a need for a common platform that enables the consumer to view and compare offers, buy new connections, buy/upgrade packs/channels, recharge account, compare and view pack comparisons, compare and view channel comparisons, construct packs, register and track complaints. Further, the common platform also shall be capable of providing functional facilities to operators and broadcasters.
For the reasons stated above, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for a system and method for operator, channel packs selection and management for offering better future viewership to a consumer that is useable, scalable and independent of new technology platforms, uses minimum resources that is easy and cost effectively maintained and is portable and can be deployed anywhere in very little time.